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Hadith

Abdullah ibn Masood narrates: When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would read Surah Nasr (110) in his prayer – after its revelation – he would frequently say in the rukoo’ of the prayer the following words thrice: “Subhanak Allahumma Rabbana wa bihamdika, Allahummag fir lee innaka antat Tawwabur Raheem - How perfect You are O Allah, our Lord and I praise You. O Allah, forgive me because you are the most forgiving, most merciful”.
[Reported by Ahmad and Tabarani; The hadith is Hasan (good)]

I had always disliked vegetable biryani. My Ammi had to run behind me to make me finish my plate. The other day while I was browsing through this cookbook, I came across this recipe and I am so glad I tried it. This recipe is a keeper and I will definitely be trying it again and again in my kitchen.

Put the spices meant for the rice water in 600 ml of water. Bring to a boil and turn off heat. Cover the pan and allow the flavours to infuse. This will be our liq. 1.

Meanwhile crush the two green cardamoms with milk and saffron and rose water and keep aside in a small bowl. This will be our liq. 2.

In a pan on medium heat, pour 3 tbsp of butter/oil and stir fry the chopped red capsicum. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve.

In the same pan and butter/oil fry the onions until brown. Remove half of them and reserve for garnish. Add Ginger garlic paste to the pan and stir fry it along with the remaining onions. Remove from heat and let it cool. Grind the fried Ginger-Garlic and Onion.

Heat 1 1/2 tbsp butter/oil in a pan and pour the above grinded mixture along with turmeric powder, Garam masala and tomato puree. Season with salt and let it cook for 5-10 minutes.

Add the frozen mixed vegetables to the tomato and onion mixture in the pan. Also add the stir fried red capsicum. Mix Well and simmer. Let it cook for 10 more minutes. Remove from heat and reserve.

Strain the liq. 1 and keep aside. Throw away the spices.

In a pan add 1 1/2 tbsp of butter/oil and fry the rice over high heat. (Note: Do not wash the rice before hand. Rinsing will wash away the significant amount of surface starch that contributes to the dish.)

When the rice has become shiny, add half of the liq. 1 and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cover for about 6-8 minutes or until the water has evaporated.

Take an oven proof dish and start the layering process of the Biryani. The top and bottom layers are always the rice in a Biryani. Start by a layer of rice in the bottom of the dish, then add a layer of Vegetable mixture, then a layer of rice, and layer of vegetable mixture, and then the final rice layer. Pour evently the remaining liq.1 and the liq. 2 and the reserved fried onions on the rice layer. Also sprinkle the chopped coriander and mint leaves, and the slivered almonds on it. Seal the dish with tinfoil.

Cook the biryani for 40 minutes in the oven reducing the heat to 375 °F/190 °C/Gas Mark 5 after 20 minutes. Open the dish/Remove the tinfoil from the dish, just before serving.

Yummy pics Mona. My mom used to put a lot of black pepper in her biriyanis, coz she used to say they increase your immune, n i used to keep them aside, incl the veggies. She wouldnt let me budge from the chair till I cleaned my plate, incl the things I have kept aside. With no respite from her, I would pick all those up, put them in my mouth & wash them down with a big glass of water. Gosh, wait till my mom reads this. I am sure she will be running after me now!!!

Anyways, will try your recipe soon, n maybe I can see if my mom will eat it!!

Hi mona,wonderful hyderabadi recipes, your blog is a must hit for me whenever i depend on the internet to try new recipes..do visit my blog too!
Have started out new, and love nutritious food
Bye and happy blogging

Hi Mona, thanks for stopping by at my blog and vote for my egg picture. Regarding this rice, I should try this recipe. I have been hearing about this food and some people say it is good. Keep posting good food:)

your food blog is excellant. your tips on using the available cooking cadgets outside India is very helpful. I am a seasoned cook, but in US , cooking India dishes, esp. Hyderabadi stuff is a challenge.

I have just prepared your fabulous biryani and before digging in wanted to thank you for the wonderful recipe. I actually halved the recipe for the 2 of us but in futue i’ll always make more quantity because this is such an aromatic dish. If one prepares the vegetables, gravy etc., in advance actually this is not a difficult process. I added paneer to the gravy and your proportions for the rice and gravy everything is perfect. This is my first attempt in making a dum biryani and I’m really proud Please may I request for a veg kurma recipe, hyderabadi style….thanks a lot Mona!

Latha, Thanks for letting me know me know. Even I love this recipe for its wonderful flavors.
Well, for the vegetable Qorma, follow the instructions for Murgh Qorma, except add shallow fried large cauliflower florets instead of chicken in the recipe. Hope this helps. ~Mona

was looking for the recipe for veg biryani and came here. Wonderful recipe. I was wondering could you help me with the approximate quantity of ingredients if I were to prepare veg biryani for a group of 50.

Thanks a ton,
dhyuthi

Dhyuthi, The current recipe serves 4, that way you could alter it by multiplying it for 50 guests. However I am sorry I have no idea for the exact proportions for around 50 people. ~Mona

Hi Mona,
Have just made this biryani and at the last minute I fried up some ore ida fries and mixed it in, and the whole thing just looks and smells DIVINE.
You are an amazing cook, thanks soo much for sharing your knowledge of these fab recipes…
Aarti

My name is Srikumar. I am pure veg who is addicted to biryani. When ever I go to india I eat biryani atleast once at Greenpark Hotel or at Paradise. I do prepare Veg biryani at home but it is normal where you wont get the feeling of eating that type of biryani u expect in hotels. As I am a Pure Veg, I like eating at home rather than out side. That is the reason why I requested you to provide details for Gas Stove top preperation details. I want indian names for all the ingredients as it is very easy to ask in kirana shop.

I was told that hyderabadis use a different type of garam masal specially made rather than buy everest/priya/mtr garam masal. I want details about garam masala too.

** I am arranging a get together of almost 25 persons in my home. I request you to post the recipe as early as possible

With great thanks
Srikumar

SriKumar,currently I am short of time in order to send you the recipe, I will however be writing about it sometime in the future. I apologize for that. However you can try this above recipe which is one of my favorites.

You have probably used 300 gms of rice not mentioned in your recipe though.How long do we need to soak the spices in hot water to get the infusion of the spices? Will it overowering if we grind the spices along with the caremalised onions to add to the fragrance of the biriyani
Baskaran

Hi!Im a great fan of ur hyderabadi reciepies…My hubby is from Hyderabad and he loves the authentic biryani…happened to c ur blog and infact have tried out many times ur chicken biryani(kachi ghosht) and mutton biryani(pakki ghosht)and double ka meetha,bhagare baigan and it came out very well….wanted to try d veg biryani and did so yest…that too was so yummy….thanks to u got lot of compliments from my hubby and friends….:))